Stop # 16: Curry on a Rainy Day

Folks, this one is for you.  Because it was very much due to knowing I had a blog post to write that I was willing to trek down to the trucks at all today.  It has been RAIN-NY up in here for the past few days and the forecast is promising more of the same all the way through the extended ten day forecast.  Harumph.  Well, it would be unfair to say that I hadn't been warned when I left California and relocated to the Pacific Northwest that rain and I were destined to get really, very deeply and truly well acquainted.

I made my way through the downpour and found that I Like Thai, the truck that had been closed last week, was up and running.  So Thai lunch it was!  The truck was super cute, with a bright red sign and a hand written menu describing the vegetables included in each dish.  Pretty standard Thai fare - noodle dishes, stir fried dishes with rice and curries.  You select your protein, which as this truck is described as "hen-pig-cow-shrimp-tofu".  Call it what it is, I suppose!

I asked the young lady for her recommendations.  However, I already sort of knew what I wanted, so when she said Pad Kee Mao and Sweet Basil with Rice, I broke my own rules and ordered the Panang Curry with chicken.  With the rain and still being on the mend from a cold, I wanted something hot and creamy.  I was given the option of white or brown rice and went with the brown.  Love having that choice.

Yay Veggies!

When my order was ready, I was handed a small paper bag that I hustled back to the office.  For an extremely low price, this was A LOT of food.  I ended up not being able to finish it (only the second truck so far where that has been the case!)  The curry was as warm and creamy as I'd hoped, however the flavors were a little subdued - I didn't get a really strong hit of curry spice.  And the vegetables were a smidge overdone - I like them really cripsy.  But it was a nice, south east asian comfort lunch that I thoroughly enjoyed - and will again tomorrow (yay leftovers!)





I Like Thai
Panang Curry with Chicken: $5 (+ tip)
CASH ONLY

That is A LOT of Curry

Stop #15: Eating Schwarma and Gaining Nuance About Middle Eastern Cuisine

I was all set to go for Thai food today, believing that the next cart on my odyssey was "I Like Thai Food."  But for whatever reason, they weren't open today.  So my eyes traveled one truck to the left --Saaj Baghdad.  While it took my brain/belly about five seconds to shift itself from curry and chilis to grilled meat and tatziki, I was psyched.

I asked the gentleman what he liked best on the menu.  He said schwarma - I asked him which kinds of meat he had - lamb, chicken and beef.  He then pointed to his menu and explained that they served their  schwarma on Iraqi bread called samoon.  This piqued my interest, as I suddenly realized my knowledge about food from the Middle East is extremely general.  Schwarma, hummus, kabob, falafel - but I have no real sense of regional or national specialties.  What is the local dish in Saudi Arabia vs. Qatar vs. Yemen vs. Iraq?  While a small drop in the bucket, samoon was going to be a first step in gaining some nuance about Middle Eastern food.

I was asked if I wanted everything on the sandwhich - lettuce, tomato, tatziki, cucumber, hot sauce?  I said yes, but after being burned by last week, requested light on the hot sauce.

While I waited for my food, an order was presented to a pair of men who had been waiting.  I was thrilled to hear them have a happily animated exchange in arabic with the truck owners as one of them devoured his sandwhich.  If those who were raised on the dishes being served are buying them from the establishment where you are getting your lunch, you are in the right place.

It took a fair bit of time for my food to be ready.  If you are in a rush, save this truck for another day.  However, if you want to be sure that your schwarma is cooked perfectly and to order, this is the place for you!  After about ten minutes I was presented with a steaming meal that looked like something between a sandwhich and a pita.

I got back to the office and dug in.  Delicious!  The meat had been sauteed with onions, the tatziki was refreshing with an extra flavor - tarragon? that was a great addtion and the creamy hot sauce was fabulous.  Finally, the bread, the samoon was awesome!  A little like a ciabbatta but with a crunchier and denser exterior, it was robust enough to balance the heartiness of the contents of the sandwhich better than a flimsy pita (I mean, those things ALWAYS fall apart when you fill them with deliciousness, ammaright?)

Note French Fry in the Middle

Also fun - the two french fries in the middle of the sandwhich.  I feel I can always get behind a general inclusion of french fries whenever possible.

 Saaj Baghdad: 
Chicken Schwarma - $7.00 (+ tip)
Accepts Credit Cards

Stop #14: Familiar Thai with a Little Twist

Thai Basil is the first Thai truck in what I will affectionately call the "Thai Stretch".  I think there are three or four (we will find out) Thai carts almost in a row, with a Polish and a Middle Eastern truck thrown in to maintain some variety.  I am looking forward to seeing which dishes each truck claims are their favorites, if they have different specialities and how it all compares and  contrasts....

At Thai Basil when I asked the name of her favorite dish, the woman taking orders said that she liked pad thai, pad see ew and pad kee mao.  Having had plenty of pad thai in my time, I decided to opt for something with which I was less familiar.  I had eaten pad see ew on a number of occasions but had never tried pad kee mao.  I asked her the difference - essentially it lay in the vegetables that came with the dish - pad kee mao added a few extras, including red bell peppers.  Sold!

I gave my order and a few minutes later was handed a ginormous portion of steaming wide rice noodles, chicken and lovely veggies.  Time to haul ass to get back to the office and devour it ALL!

It was delicious.  The vegetables retained a nice crunch while still being cooked enough to be tender.  The chicken was cooked perfectly - not overdone and chewy as can so often happen in a dish like this.  The flavors of each ingredient came through and were finished off with a nice basil flavor, thanks to a perfect amount of fresh basil thrown in.  My one mistake was being too ambitious about my ability to handle spiciness.  When asked how spicy I wanted it, I requested medium -- and boy oh boy it was certainly a very robust medium.  A little too much for me, but hey, I got to sweat it out a bit.

All in all a solidly delicious and satisfying meal - probably for two, but that didn't stop me from taking care of it by myself.....

Thai Basil:
Pad Kee Mao: $6.00 (+ tip!)
Accepts Credit Card

Stop #13: A Korean Standard = Magic

First off, this was a big week - I have finally crossed the street from the west side of 10th Avenue and over to the big encampment of trucks that line all four sides of a city block.  We are in the thick of it now!

My first stop was #1 Bento, which I actually thought was a Japanese food truck, due to its name.  However, I was wrong.  #1 Bento serves up Korean cuisine - everything from teryaki bentos to dumplings to grilled chicken.  Despite having grown up in the San Francisco Bay Area and eating my weight (and very likely the weight of my immediate family and a few friends as well) in Japanese, Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese food, somehow Korean had never really made it onto my radar.

Well, that was about to change.  I asked the woman taking my order what she liked best.  After laughing at me, she said that Bi Bim Bap, a Korean standard, is her favorite thing.  So I ordered one with chicken.  When I arrived back at the office, I opened my container to find a mound of rice topped with little scoops of various ingredients - chicken, bean sprouts, steamed spinach, julienned zucchini and carrots and an unidentified pickled root vegetable (probably daikon?)  Everything was topped with an egg (and not because we are in Portland - but because that is what actually belongs there.)  The meal was garnished with a sprinkling of seaweed, with a side of kimchi and of hot sauce.

It was all laid out beautifully, with each individual vegetable holding its own space in the container.  So I started to try each one on its own, making my way around the arrangement.   Then I suddenly thought to myself  "I bet there is a totally a 'right' (ie traditional) way to eat this."  Thank god for Wikipedia!  After a quick search, I discovered that, while each ingredient is placed onto the "plate" separately, the eater is supposed to mix everything together and enjoy.  Which I promptly did, and with fantastic results! Everything retained its great flavor while gaining a geschtalt effect of being more than the sum of its parts.  The only thing was that I wished the egg hadn't been so fully cooked so I could have mixed it in more effectively, but I imagine that was smart business and health practice on their part (raw-ish egg = danger!)  Kimchi is not really my thing and I found theirs a little soggy, but the Bi Bim Bap is still haunting me with its awesomeness.

Pretty cool to be introduced to a whole new dish about which I had no real idea, and to know that it is a meal that has a long tradition as a staple of an entire country.

Git it!

#1 Bento: 
Bi Bim Bap with Chicken: $6.50 (+tip!)
-Cash Only

Stop #12: Mediterranean Delciousness in a Pita

Ugarit Mediterranean meals turned into yet another fun and unique food truck experience.  The owner, Mohammed saw me taking a peak at the menu and, with the confidence of a practiced salesman, asked if I liked tomato soup.  When I replied in the affirmative, he said that he had been making tomato soup, very fresh, and asked would I try it and give him my opinion.  When I said yes, he clarified "And you will tell me the truth?"  I assured him, yes of course I would.

Like any smart foodie, he knew darn well that his tomato soup was fantastic.  Somewhere between smooth and chunky, it had a robust texture, extrememly fresh flavor, subtly spiced and with bits of parsley sprinkled on top.  It was fantastic.

Then I asked what he recommended.  He asked if I wanted something with meat or without.  I asked for meat - he proceeded to describe, in quite mouth watering detail, the way he grinded, grilled and marinated each meat that he offers.  I went with chicken - but didn't specify how or with what I wanted it.  He went to work, asking if I liked hot sauce and pulling out a sriracha bottle.  He then clarified for me that of course he made his own hot sauce - he had just made a huge batch that morning - and he kept it in sriracha bottles.  This was his sauce, just to be clear.

A few minutes later I was presented with a chicken gyro with hummus, taziki and cucumbers, wrapped in a warm pita.  The chicken was moist and very tender, the taziki was delicious, as was the infamous hot sauce.  The hummus was a little bland for my taste, but it added a nice creaminess to the overall effect.

Once he had handed me my lunch, Mohammed asked if this was my first visit to his truck and then gave me a complimentary cup of soup when I said yes.  He insisted that I take a punch card and that when I come back next time, I must try the lamb.  I quote "Nobody makes my lamb.  No one anywhere."

I believe him.

Ugarit Mediterranean Meals: (Watch the news clip from August 2010 to see Mohammed's priceless reaction to Portland being named the #1 place in the world for food carts.)
Chicken Gyro: $6.50 (+tip!)
-Cash Only